Originally Posted by
Linda VH
Our train was precisely on time BUT our tour guide in Rome said that that was very unusual. He said the reason traffic is so bad in Rome is that everyone drives to work because of unreliable trains. This discussion was going on as we kept repeatedly going to the terminal to pick up our friends who were coming by train from Paris. There was a 2 hour delay in the end.
A lot of this depends on the type of train you take. Roman commuter trains are notorious for being late. Int'l trains can be tricky as well. However, the Italian ES system runs on time. On the rare chance is isn't on time and you are more than 30 minutes late, you get an immediate cash refund of 50% of the cost of your ticket. In 10+ years of riding the ES, approximately 10 round trips a year, I have qualified for the rebate 1 time. In all other instances I have arrived early, on time or w/in 5 minutes of the scheduled arrival.